Loss has Andrade, coach fighting mad

BEIJING - Following his first-round victory last week, Providence's Demetrius Andrade was concerned about the scoring system and how he thought he was not getting credit for the punches he landed.

Last night at Beijing Workers' Gymnasium, the world's top-rated welterweight and world champion was bounced from the competition in the quarterfinals against South Korea's Kim Jung-joo, 11-9, contributing to what has become America's worst-ever Olympic boxing performance.

The loss reminded Andrade of a controversy that happened in the sport when he was a 1-year-old in 1988. "You know what was going through my mind?" Andrade said. "I said, 'Damn, they might pull a Jones on me.' " Roy Jones Jr.'s championship-bout loss to South Korea's Park Si-Hun at the 1988 Seoul Games was so unjust it led to the current computer scoring model.

To many, however, Andrade's loss was not in the same category. The bout was closely fought, but no one clearly dominated the four-rounder. Andrade seemed to control the action, but he didn't land scoring punches.

Andrade appeared to sense his fate and left the ring before the verdict was announced. "It was no disrespect to the [other] fighter, but there was no point for me to be in there," he said.

Andrade's loss left just one American, Deontay Wilder, left in the competition. Wilder survived, beating Morocco's Mohammed Arjaoui in a controversial decision.

Wilder's fight ended in a 10-10 tie and Wilder admitted he thought his fate would be similar to that of Andrade and teammate Rau'shee Warren, who lost an early fight he seemed to have won, by 1 point.

"Truly, I thought the referee was going to raise [his competitor's] hand," said Wilder, a 22-year-old out of Tuscaloosa, Ala. "These judges have not been fair in this competition. We've been getting robbed, man."

Wilder won via a 23-22 count of accepted punches, determined by the five judges. As in gymnastics, the high and low counts are thrown out.

With 40 seconds left in the bout and Wilder trailing by a point, the American received a big break when the referee penalized Arjaoui 2 points for illegally ducking.

Wilder will face Clemente Russo of Italy Friday.

Following the decision, Arjaoui was devastated and his coaches were in an uproar. An interpreter said the Moroccan's camp thought the decision was "not just."

Now the US's Olympic gold medal hopes rest with the 6-foot-7-inch Wilder, who started in the sport three years ago. He will at least get a bronze, keeping the US from being shut out of an Olympic medal for the first time.

"I wasn't 100 percent Deontay in the ring," Wilder said. "I've been with Dee [Andrade] and my teammates for a whole year. We built a great bond together. We're like family. They're like my brothers. And when I saw him come in [to the locker room] crying, immediately I got emotional and broke down. I told him to stop because he was making me cry and lose focus.

"I feel I was a way much better fighter than [Arjaoui]. I feel I could have done way better than what I did. It was just a lack of focus."

"Honestly, this don't make other kids want to come here or do this Olympic thing at all," said Andrade, who thought he connected with enough punches in the final period to win. "To come here and know you're going to get treated like that [by the judges] . . . what's the point in even coming?"

US coach Dan Campbell only could console Andrade and agreed with his assessment.

"I thought that was totally ridiculous," Campbell said. "He clearly landed more scoring punches. I was talking to the people back in the tape room and they saw the same thing we did. Demetrius should have had at least 8 points going into that last round."

Instead, Andrade trailed, 8-6, going into the final period.

"I thought I caught up," Andrade said. "I knew I threw two or three nice left hands, but I guess I only got 1 point for it.

"What was the score? 11-9? There was no way he hit me 11 times."

"I fought my heart out, but sometimes life is unfair," Andrade added. "I was landing a lot of punches, but the judges were not giving them to me.